


Hot, Cold, and Just Right

by mcgarrygirl78



Series: Keep on Loving You [8]
Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: F/M, Family, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-26
Updated: 2016-11-26
Packaged: 2018-09-02 06:58:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8655148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: Liv always wanted Noah to be independent, he'd slept in a crib since the night she brought him home.  But sometimes if thunderstorms were too loud or if he just had to be close, she let him stay in the big bed.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I sent Warren Leight a tweet after those engagement pics came out and he replied. He told me he loved writing for the three of them and I love it too. So this is in honor of Warren and knowing that he wanted Liv to have a happily ever after.

“OK, Noah, it’s your turn now. Do you remember how to play?”

“Yeah.” Noah nodded. He looked at his cards and then looked at Ed. “Um, threes.”

“Here you go.” Ed handed Noah a card. “Do you have any sixes?”

“No.”

“Are you sure?” Ed asked.

Noah studied his cards intently and then looked at Ed again. He nodded.

“So what do you say when you don’t have any sixes?”

“Go Fish!” Noah exclaimed.

“Good job. Dad’s just gonna take a card from the deck.”

“Um…lady?” Noah put the queen of spades on the bed.

“I have two ladies as a matter of fact.” He put them down on the bed beside Noah’s cards. “How many do you have now?”

“One, two, three.”

“Good. One more and you win that book.”

“Is Noah going to sleep with us or in his own room?” Liv asked. She was across the room sitting in the chair sorting laundry. “I don’t want him to get too cold in the middle of the night.”

The building they lived in was in a bit of a crisis at the moment. One of the furnaces died and half the condos, Liv’s being one of them, had no heat. It was going to be at least 48 hours before everything was up and running. While it wasn’t below freezing outside, it had been in the forties all week and the temperatures weren't going up. Luckily this would be resolved, supposedly, before the Thanksgiving holiday. 

Instead of getting a hotel room and disrupting their entire lives, Ed went out and bought four portable, desktop heaters. He had one for the master bedroom, one for the bathroom, the nursery, and another for the living room. It wasn’t perfect but it definitely took the chill out of the air. And they could stay at home and be comfortable.

“I turned the heater on in his room an hour ago.” Ed replied. “It’s on top of the chest of drawers so he can't reach it and it should feel like it does in there on any given night.”

“Even with the draft coming from the living room?”

“We can close the door.”

“He doesn’t like the door closed.” Liv said. “You know that.”

“We’ll push it all the way up. With the heater and his blankets, he should be fine. Unless you want him to stay in here with us.”

“Fours, daddy.” Noah said, interrupting the conversation.

“Go fish.”

Noah pulled a card from the deck. Ed looked at Liv. He and Noah had been sitting on the bed with the dog playing cards for the last half hour. After dinner they all came into the master bedroom where it was comfy and warm. Cartoons played on low volume and in about a half hour Noah would be going to bed. 

Ed had no objection to the toddler sleeping with them; he'd done it before. Liv always wanted Noah to be independent, he'd slept in a crib since the night she brought him home. But sometimes if thunderstorms were too loud or if he just had to be close, she let him stay in the big bed. That hadn’t changed when she started sharing the big bed with Ed. He didn’t mind, he had shared a bed with two or three kids at points in his life. Noah could be a bit wild sometimes but usually with the dog close by he was pretty calm even on the bad nights.

“Do you have any Jacks, Noah?” Ed asked. He placed the card on the bed so Noah could see what it looked like. He'd just turned three but visual cues had so far been best for his learning.

“One.” Noah replied, handing it to Ed.

“OK, let's check your cards to see if you have any books. May I see them please?”

Noah nodded and showed his hand. He had four Queens in his set.

“Oh wow, look at that you do have all the ladies.” Ed took the four cards and put them off to the side. They had been tied for a while with two books apiece but it looks like Noah was taking the lead.

“Did I win, Daddy?”

“You are winning, bud. We’ll play just a little more.” Ed turned back to Liv. “Whatever you want to do, Liv, is fine by me.”

“I think we can put him in his own room.” Liv said. “No doubt Ronin will go with him and help keep him warm. But if he wants to come back then we let him.”

“Agreed. Your turn, Noah.”

“Um…nine?”

“Go fish.”

Liv just smiled as Noah picked up a card from the deck. She had been so devastated when his speech delay kept him from getting into the exclusive daycare that she managed to finagle an interview with. But as she watched him play cards with Ed, she knew he was going to be OK. Ed was patient and so loving, but more than that he taught Noah so many things. 

This was the third time they were playing go fish together and Noah was already getting pretty good at it. If he forgot the rules or didn’t know what to say, Ed showed such patience with reminding him. Noah knew all of his numbers to ten so they had a really good time together. Liv just loved to watch them. When her little boy and her big boy were happy then so was she.

“Do you have any sevens?” Ed asked.

Noah put two down on the bed and Ed took them. He had a book of sevens now; he and Noah were tied again. This game was getting hot.

“Done playing, Daddy.” Noah put his cards down.

Ahh yes, the attention span of a three year old; Ed knew it well. It had been about a half hour, which was good for Noah if it wasn’t a movie on to keep his attention. Both Ed and Liv were trying to teach him patience, which he would need if his speech delays or any developmental issues persisted. So far, so good. He was just three so Ed never wanted to be too hard on him. He also didn’t want Noah just to walk away because he didn’t like something immediately or it was too hard. Parents often walked a very fine line when raising kids.

“You wanna stop?” Ed asked.

“Yes.” Noah nodded.

“You wanna quit?”

“No quitting!” Noah exclaimed.

“That’s right, bud.” High five!” Ed held up his hand and Noah slapped it. He gathered up all of the cards and put them back in the Bicycle box.

“I think we should start getting ready for bed.” Liv stood from the chair and walked across the room. “What do you say, Noah?”

“OK.” He didn’t seem too impressed but he was a bit sleepy.

“Say goodnight to daddy.” Liv scooped the toddler into her arms. He was growing up so fast, almost getting to heavy to be carried around by mommy. Liv wasn’t sure she was ready to let go.

“Night, daddy.”

“Goodnight, bud. Sleep tight OK?”

“Bye.” Noah waved as they walked out of the bedroom.

Ronin was laying on the bottom of the bed. He looked at Ed and then got up and left the room as well. He always went into Noah’s room when it was time for bed. Sometimes he only stayed until Noah was asleep and then came back to relax with the adults but might stay all night with the heat problems. Ed went out into the kitchen, shivering from the chill since the portable heater had been turned off out there for over an hour. 

He could hear Liv talking softly to Noah as he microwaved a bag of popcorn. He poured a glass of wine for Liv, a bourbon for himself, and filled a bowl with the popped kernels. It was time for a little mommy and daddy time. The coming week would be a short one at work so it would be busy. And Ed was cooking Thanksgiving dinner so that meant he was going to have even less time on his hands. Spending the next couple of hours focusing solely on Liv sounded like a great plan to him.

In the bedroom, he turned off the TV and put on the satellite radio. Liv had left it on the 80s station but Ed quickly found the love songs channel and smiled as Don Henley sang Heart of the Matter. He fluffed his pillows and relaxed on the bed. It was a good way to end a long day. He could only smile thinking there was one more day left to the weekend. He would take Liv and Noah out to brunch tomorrow, Sean might join them. They would spend all of Sunday together as a family, both had actually gone in for a few hours of work today.

“I think he’s going to be OK.” Liv said as she walked back into the bedroom. “I turned the heat up just a bit and he has his comforter and the dog there for extra warmth. I also told him that if he got cold in the middle of the night to come to mommy’s room.”

“That should be good enough. I made some popcorn; I got you some wine. I'm not sure how well red wine goes with butter but…”

“I’ll make do.” Liv smiled, climbing onto the bed. She let out a slow exhale the moment she was in Ed’s arms. It was the only place she wanted to be. Things had been busy lately, complicated, tiring, but this was perfect. Being with him at the end of the day was perfect. There was a rumor circulating that she might be preparing to do this for the rest of her life.

“We can watch a movie.” Ed said. “Or we can listen to some music, whatever you want to do. It’s been a long day so let's relax for a little while.”

“I want to talk.”

“What do you want to talk about?”

“Well we haven’t really talked about where we’re getting married.” Liv replied.

“We haven’t talked about getting married.” Ed countered.

“We’re getting married, Tucker.”

“When?”

“February 25th.”

“Did you just come up with that date off the top of your head?” he asked.

“No…maybe. But it’s a good date.”

“Agreed.” Ed nodded.

“It’s a Saturday so there should be no conflict with having all the kids there. And I know you’ve done all of this before and probably don’t want some huge to-do…”

“I want whatever you want.”

“Ed…”

“I mean that. If you want a to-do then we’ll have a to-do. If you want something small then that’s what we’ll do. Tell me what you're thinking.”

Liv smiled, a happy sigh coming from her lips as she cuddled in his arms. She reached over for her glass of wine just as Ed held the popcorn bowl in his lap. Ed kissed her forehead.

“I've been looking at a few venues. I want a wonderful wedding but I don’t want a big wedding. There's no point in that, I don’t have much family and few close friends. I'm not any particular religion but I would love to get married in a beautiful church.”

“There are plenty in Manhattan.”

“I know. And I thought of renting out a room in a nice restaurant for the reception since, again, it’s not going to be a ton of people there. Maybe 40.”

“We can rent out Freeman’s, it’s affordable and it’s a really nice spot.”

“What's affordable?” Liv asked.

“About $100 a person usually, not including alcohol. It’s a great location and we could find a church close so that guests won't have to travel too far in Saturday traffic for the reception.”

“I was thinking about Camille’s. We had our first date there and it might sound silly but wouldn’t it be nice to have a Saturday brunch wedding.”

“A soul brunch wedding?” Ed looked at her and smiled. “I can't say that I'm against that. I could call and see how much a few hours would cost. I'm sure they’ve done parties before.”

“Is that corny?” Liv asked, sipping her wine.

“Yes, but I like it.”

“So do I.”

“Too bad we can't get Norah Jones there to sing like she did for our first date.” Ed said.

“We can get a singer to do her songs.” Liv said. “I want something like that. I want to sort of recreate our first date.”

“OK.”

Ed tried but he couldn’t stop smiling. She was going to marry him. And not only was she going to marry him but she wanted to recreate their first date. It was the sweetest thing he'd ever heard. It blew his mind actually, this wasn’t a conversation he thought they would have tonight. They cuddled in bed and talked about wedding dresses, music, soul food brunch, and honeymoon destinations.

“I'm looking forward to being your husband.” Ed said.

“Are you?”

“I love you very much, and I want to spend every night of this crazy life coming home to you and Noah.”

“I love you too. Should I wear white for the wedding or is that too much? I mean, I'm no starling, even if I've never been married before.”

“Maybe an ivory dress would be nice. Do you want to go traditional or modern?”

“I don't know, but I'm glad we’re talking about it because now I can dig out all the wedding books I've bought and have them strewn all over the place without you being suspicious.”

“Have we created a monster?” Ed asked laughing.

“Maybe just a tiny one.”

“I plan to enjoy every moment of this…all of this.”

Liv sipped her wine, leaning over Ed to put it on his nightstand. She took the popcorn, about half eaten and placed the bowl on the mattress. Then she climbed into his lap. She put her arms around his neck.

“Mrs. Edward John Tucker.”

“You said you wanted to keep your name, and I'm totally OK with that.”

“In this bedroom I'm Mrs. Edward John Tucker.” Liv said.

“And what would make Mrs. Tucker happy?” Ed asked.

“I have everything a woman could want and more. I love my job, even when it’s stressful. I have a beautiful son and a strong, devoted partner. I even have three great step kids. What more could I ask for?”

“I just want to know how I got so lucky.”

“We were the last two people standing on the battle field. We looked through the smoke and acrid air, reached out for each other, and haven’t let go yet.”

“Is that romantic or just sad?”

“It’s us.” Liv kissed him and never wanted to stop. “In the end all that matters is we’re here and it’s so right. I feel pretty right at the moment, Captain.”

Ed was feeling kind of good himself. It wasn’t hard with such a beautiful, magnificent woman in his arms. He couldn’t believe that Liv brought up marriage tonight; that she was ready. She had in the supermarket last week and it wasn’t that he didn’t believe her but…he wasn’t quite sure he believed her. And meeting his dad for the holidays and before they got married didn’t get them any closer to a date. Tonight she put a date on it. 

Ed wasn’t sure if Liv would ever be ready and even though he wanted it, he made a decision to be in this relationship whichever way it went. But February was right around the corner. Soon they would be husband and wife and he would adopt Noah. Ed had little doubt of their happiness. That didn’t mean that nothing would come to shake them. But together, bring it on, Ed was ready. Liv just put him on notice that she was as well.

***


End file.
